Philippine National Police Ordered to Plant 10 Million Trees

As their nation's sole law enforcement agency, the Philippine National Police carry a heavy burden when it comes to keeping the country safe -- but arresting one of the biggest threats they face will take shovels, not clubs or handcuffs. In light of rampant deforestation and the formidable effects of climate change, the Philippine government has orded its police force to plant a whopping 10 million trees in just one year.

Last week, the Philippine National Police (PNP) partnered with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to initiate an ambitious plan to reforest the island nation as part of a program called 'Police for Nature: 10 Million Trees Heritage for the Future'. According to the Philippine Information Agency, the mandate calls on the PNP's 140,000 law enforcement agents to plant at least six seedling per month over the next year as a way of lessening the impact of global warming on the vulnerable island nation.

“Planting trees is the PNP’s own little way of helping mitigate the effects of climate change to our environment," says PNP chief Nicanor A. Bartolome.

The push to reforest the Philippines comes on the heels of a recent executive order by President Benigno Aquino, known as the National Greening Program, which aims to rehabilitate nearly 500 thousand acres of previously cleared forest cover by February 2013.